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Access to Opportunity: A Case Study of Street Food Vendors in Ghana’s Urban Informal Economy

Gender and Food: From Production to Consumption and After

ISBN: 978-1-78635-054-1, eISBN: 978-1-78635-053-4

Publication date: 22 August 2016

Abstract

Purpose

This study examines the social and economic experiences of female food vendors in the informal economy in urban Ghana using a particularized analysis to challenge prevailing opinions that women working in the informal economy inevitably experience social oppression and economic marginalization.

Methodology/approach

Synthesizing data from ethnographic field observation of female street food vendors in urban Ghana with past ethnographic research, this study focuses on the cultural, historical, political, social, and economic particularities of the Ghanaian context to understand the experience of female urban street food vendors.

Findings

Ghanaian women working in informal food vending in urban environments in the Southern regions of Ghana experience a myriad of social and economic benefits including: strong social support networks, access to entrepreneurial skills and startup capital; heightened social status, resulting from loyal customers and community recognition; empowerment through financial autonomy; as well as pride in providing economic resources for children. These social and economic experiences serve as counterevidence to the dominant perspective that women in the informal economy experience social oppression and economic marginalization.

Originality/value

This research contributes qualitative data regarding the social and economic support systems established by women in the informal food economy in Ghana. Furthermore, it emphasizes that development agencies and policymakers understand the importance of these contextual dynamics in developing policies aimed at the informal economy.

Keywords

Citation

King, A. (2016), "Access to Opportunity: A Case Study of Street Food Vendors in Ghana’s Urban Informal Economy", Gender and Food: From Production to Consumption and After (Advances in Gender Research, Vol. 22), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 65-86. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-212620160000022014

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016 Emerald Group Publishing Limited